Liverpool’s historic 8-0 drubbing of Besiktas in the Champions League last month is one of the 26 European matches under investigation for potential match-fixing, according to a report from the German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The Reds’ Anfield win was the largest margin in the competition’s history, although that result now looks in doubt. The German article claims that, like the other 25 matches in question, there were an unusually large number of bets placed on the winning margin right before kickoff.
Just prior to the draw for this summer’s Euro 2008 finals on Saturday, UEFA, Europe’s governing body for soccer, announced that it was working with Europol, the criminal investigating arm of The Hague, to assess why such an unusually large number of bettors at a certain Asian betting outfit guessed the correct scoreline or margin of victory for some 26 European matches.
British paper the Guardian claims that so far there’s been no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of either Liverpool or Besiktas. UEFA, meanwhile, has refused to substantiate claims made by Süddeutsche Zeitung that the Champions League match is one of those under investigation. The organization has said it will not reveal the matches under suspicion at this point in time.